Biography

Born in Belfast, this Dutch artist studied singing at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague from 1988 to 1995 and made her debut at the Teatro Manzoni in Rome in 1995, in the title role of Tosca. From 2001 to 2006, she was a member of the Stuttgart Opera troupe. In 2003, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in Les Bacchantes by Egon Wellesz. This was followed by her debut at the Opéra national de Paris in Madame Lidoine (Dialogues des carmélites), Katerina Ismaïlova (Lady Macbeth by Mzensk) at the Dutch National Opera and at the ROH Covent Garden in London, Sieglinde (Die Walküre) at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, role that she played at the Bayreuth Festival in 2008. The same year she was Hanna Glawari (Die lustige Witwe) at La Scala in Milan and Chrysothemis (Elektra) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, as well as Leonora (La Force du destin) at La Monnaie in Brussels. In 2010, she made her debut at the Wiener Staatsoper in the same role, before being Sieglinde (Die Walküre) at the San Francisco Opera and the following year at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She created the role of Anna Nicole in the eponymous opera by M.A. Turnage at the ROH in London where she returned to play Dido (Les Troyens). She played the title role of Francesca da Rimini at the Met, where she was also Elisabeth (Tannhäuser). Then she sang the roles of Madeleine de Coigny (Andrea Chénier) in London, Minnie (La Fanciulla del West) in Vienna, Isolde (Tristan and Isolde) at the Baden-Baden Festival. She was Giorgetta (Il tabarro) in Munich, Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana) at La Monnaie in Brussels and Lisa (La Dame de Pique) at ROH. Last season she was Santuzza at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Katia (Katia Kabanova) at Staatsoper Berlin and Sieglinde in Amsterdam. She performs regularly in recital, accompanied by Julius Drake, and will make her debut at the OnR.